Spirited Away
by Hypo Prower
Summary: When Tails fails to save Sonic from an assult by Dr. Eggman, he, Knuckles, and Amy go out to avenge him. But Sonic has a bigger secret than anyone ever imagined...and Tails is about to find out.
1. Vengence

Tails poked his head into a little air vent in the ceiling

Tails poked his head into a little air vent in the ceiling. He gazed down, watching Sonic and Eggman square off.

Sonic had strictly ordered Tails to stay put, but the fox just had to see what was going on. What really struck him as odd was the fact that Sonic had told him to keep low…usually he let him frolic with him wherever he went.

Nevertheless, Tails was loyal to his best friend…he wouldn't want to betray his trust and interfere with whatever master plan he had running around in his noggin.

All the thoughts melted away as Tails watched through the air vent, horrified. Eggman had Sonic strapped to a chair with a blaster pointed at his neck.

The doctor cackled menacingly as he pressed a button on his machine. Sonic bared his teeth.

"You'll never get away with this!"

"It looks like I just did, hedgehog."

Sonic coolly smirked. "Hey, whatever, egghead," he smiled. "My friends'll be back to avenge me, if you do kill me."

Tails' pupils shrank three sizes. _KILL?!_

Dr. Eggman crossed his arms. "Well, it was fun while it lasted. Goodnight, rodent!!"

Just before the beam had a chance to get to Sonic, the blue hedgehog looked up at the air vent in Tails' eyes. He smiled, ever so slightly.

Then, flashing.

Not bringing himself to see anymore, Tails crawled up the air vent and ducked into the main room on Eggman's Egg Craft. Tears running freely now down his cheeks, the two-tailed fox floated gently down to the ground--where he wept.

Suddenly, he saw two figures running towards him--Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose. Tails gazed at them, not knowing what to say. The only thing that ran through his mind was, _Sonic's dead. Eggman has won. Everything is gone._

"Hey, Tails!" Knuckles was the first to call. "You and Sonic were supposed to meet up with us a little big ago." As the two halted near Tails, Knuckles put his hands on his hips and looked around. "So, where's that mangy rodent anyhow?"

Not thinking of anything else to say, Tails muttered through his tears, "He's dead."

Knuckles jerked his head around to Tails, and Amy screamed horrifically.

"No!" Amy cried, grabbing Tails by his muzzle. "You don't joke around like that! Sonic isn't dead, so where is he?!"

Tails stared at Amy's worried eyes, and bowed his head. "I-I couldn't save him," he replied. "Dr. Eggman had a laser right up to his neck. He fired it, and I flew out…"

Amy, in spite of herself, dropped Tails and felt tears welling in her eyes. "So…Sonic…is…really…?"

Knuckles helped Tails off the ground. "You're really serious about this, huh?" Tails nodded.

"A joke like this would be so sick I couldn't forgive myself."

Knuckles furrowed his brow, but Tails knew that the echidna wouldn't cry. Tough, strong echidna with dreads never cried.

Amy stared miserably at Tails and Knuckles. "So what do we do now, guys?" she asked. Tails sighed.

"I'm not really sure what we can do…" Suddenly, his thoughts snapped back to Sonic in the chair.

_My friends'll be back to avenge me, if you do kill me._

Tails looked his friends bravely in the eyes. "Sonic told Eggman that if he killed him, then we would be back to avenge him." Knuckles and Amy exchange puzzled looks as Tails turned to stare at the Death Egg, still floating in the sky.

"Eggman killed Sonic. But we're gonna kill Eggman."


	2. No More Heroes Left

"What

"What?!"

Amy glared at Tails in disbelief. "But…but…he's Dr. Eggman! You can't exactly just waltz up to him and give him the slip!"

Tails slightly glanced at the pink hedgehog. "I can understand if you don't want to partake in this. It's fine. I can do it on my own, if need be."

Knuckles, after a big sigh, spoke up. "OK, I'm in."

Tails stared at the echidna. "You understand that this is going to be pretty dangerous, don't you?" he asked. Knuckles nodded.

"Still, Sonic was my friend. I can't just let Eggman get away with a crime like this." Amy flickered her gaze back and forth from Knuckles to Tails.

"OK!" she declared. "Sonic was the best boyfriend in the world! Eggman won't get away with this…even if we DO kill him!"

Tails smiled at his two friends as they started walking back to their houses. He realized then that these two would be the best comrades in the world for a mission of this caliber.

Early the next morning, Tails heard a knock on his door. He was still groggy from last night, since he couldn't sleep all that well. He missed having Sonic call him early in the morning and asking him if he could order pizza for breakfast.

The two-tailed fox sleepily opened his door. "Yeah?" he muttered, his eyes squinting in the sunlight. Amy met his gaze. She gasped horrifically.

"Oh, Tails! You look awful! Are you alright?" Tails yawned.

"Yeah, I'm hanging in there. Just thinking about…y'know…" Tails felt the hot sting of tears come to his eyes. Amy put her hand on his shoulder.

"I was pretty upset last night too," she admitted. "It's just so hard to believe…Sonic, hero to all of us…he's gone." Tails tried his best to smile.

"His spirit lives on in all of us. Um, do you want some breakfast?" Amy smirked.

"Well, I was going to see if I could have something over here, but seeing you now, I think that I'D better bet the one fixing the meal." Tails raised his eyebrows.

"Do I really look that bad?" he asked. Amy pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and held it up to Tails' face.

"See for yourself."

The fox had to stifle a scream. His eyes were bloodshot, and bags of skin hung underneath them.

"I look terrible!" he squeaked. Amy took back the mirror and stepped inside Tails' house.

"Why don't you go freshen up? I'll make breakfast."

When he was finished, he walked into the kitchen to see Knuckles sitting at his dining table.

"Mornin' sunshine," he greeted. Tails smiled as cheerfully as he could muster at the red echidna.

"Hey there Knuckles. Come to join us for breakfast?"

"More like plot this attack," Knuckles said matter-of-factly. "We're wasting time as we speak. The Death Egg has been spotted closer than ever to Station Square."

Tails nodded, energy finally starting to come into his body at the thought of adventure. "I saw that on the news this morning. But I don't think that he's aiming to abduct any people…" Amy sat by the two boys and handed them each a cup of coffee.

"But why else would he be here?"

"He's looking for us."

Amy and Knuckles stared at Tails. "Why would he be looking for us?" Knuckles asked, confusion racking his brain. Tails sipped a bit of coffee and answered gravely.

"He sees us as a threat. He thinks that we're plotting against him-"

"Which we are," Amy pointed out.

"Yeah. And he wants us gone. Eggman won't stop until all of us are defeated, and there are no more heroes left."

"Gee, I'm flattered," Amy added sarcastically.

Knuckles pounded his fists together. "Then there isn't a moment to lose. We've got to deliver to Eggman what he has coming for him."

Tails stood up. "Well, first we need to come up with a plan, and I think I know just the place to do so.

Knuckles and Amy followed the two-tailed fox to his lab.


	3. Without a Doubt, Sonic the Hedgehog

Amy and Knuckles sat patiently as Tails typed something on his laptop

Amy and Knuckles sat patiently as Tails typed something on his laptop. Suddenly, a 3-D image of a flying air ship appeared in front of the two. Amy gasped.

"Wow! That's the Death Egg, isn't it?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah. I scanned the Death Egg on one of our previous missions." He shook his head. "But that isn't important right now. Here, let me get you guys an internal view…"

A few seconds passed, and a different image replaced the last. Instead, the inside of the Death Egg was projected in front of the three. Knuckles tried putting his hand through the projection.

"This is amazing. How far has technology come?"

Tails remained in front of his laptop. "OK. The entrance to the Death Egg is…here." A red mark showed up on the model to project Tails' idea. "And the room that Eggman killed Sonic in was…here, on the second floor."

Amy tried to map out a trail in her mind. "So, from the entrance, to get to the second floor, you go down this hallway and go down the steps?...That's about 63 meters away."

Knuckles scratched his head. "So why are we talking about the room where Sonic was killed?" Tails walked over by the model and pointed to a section of it.

"That's where the giant laser was. If we're able to lead Eggman into this room, we can strap him into the chair and give him a taste of his own medicine."

Amy studied the projection a second before making a discovery.

"Tails, if you were able to witness the crime…you would've had to have been on the second floor. How is it possible that you were still on the first floor?"

Tails blinked. "Oh! I forgot to mention." The fox walked over to his laptop again and had the model zoom in on a certain sector. "There's an air vent in this part of the room. The pipe lead directly down to the laser room…" Tails trailed off.

Knuckles gave his friend a sympathetic glance. "Hey, uh…Tails? Are we done with this plan of ours?" he added gently.

Tails blinked away the sadistic glaze in his eyes and looked down again at the model. "If we can lead Eggman into this room here, then we can finally have our revenge. Everyone cool with that?"

Amy and Knuckles nodded.

"Eggman would never get away with killing anyone," said Knuckles.

"He's gonna pay for killing my man," said Amy.

"He'll…he'll pay for killing my best friend," said Tails sadly.

Tails snatched up his laptop and lead his two friends to the Tornado 2. "Here we go!" the fox cried as the plane lifted off.

Knuckles crept into the entrance to the Death Egg. He glanced around nervously. Seeing the place all darkened like this gave him the creeps.

As he looked out the window, he could see the top of Station Square. Everyone was inside their houses, and he couldn't blame them. He hated Eggman too.

Suddenly remembering his mission, Knuckles walked along the floor and kept darting his eyes from side to side. Where was that crazy talking egg anyway?

Suddenly, the lights flashed on. Knuckles tore his sight to an army of robots parading towards him. "Whoa!" he said in surprise. The army came closer and closer. Knuckles didn't say a word.

Finally, as the robots got very near to him, the echidna yowled toward the ceiling. "Now Amy! Get down here!" With a flash, the pink hedgehog stood poised with her hammer clutched in her fists.

"I'm here. Let's do this thing."

As Knuckles and Amy took care of the robots, Tails silently slunk into the Death Egg. He needed to find his way to the captain's room. As the two-tailed fox looked around at the doors, he smiled satisfyingly at the sound of Knuckles and Amy smashing 'bots.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

_Tails. It's this way. Just follow me._

That voice, without a doubt, was Sonic the Hedgehog.


	4. Not as Dead as You Think

Tails halted unexpectedly and jerked his head from side to side

Tails halted unexpectedly and jerked his head from side to side. "Wha-?! Was that really…?"

The voice came again. _Well, I guess seein' is believin', so here we go!_ The voice vanished mysteriously and a translucent appearance of Sonic appeared in from of Tails.

The two-tailed fox turned very pale. "Sonic…it's…it's…really you?" Sonic smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

_Sure is! And I'm here to help you._

Tails began to back away uncertainly. "Are you sure I'm not hallucinating? It's truly, honest-to-goodness Sonic?"

Sonic nodded. _OK, now that we've got that covered, why don't we go and save the world?_

Tails smiled as Sonic crossed his transparent arms. It really was his friend.

The two took off. Tails glanced at Sonic running next to him. "Alright, we need to find the Captain's Room. Did you say that you knew where it was?" Sonic nodded.

_Yeah. In fact, it's the room that I was caught in._ When Tails didn't answer, the ghostly hedgehog broke the silence. _See, I was looking for Eggman, and I decided to check out all the rooms. I didn't want you to see anything that you didn't need to, so I told you to stay back. And, when Eggman grabbed me…well, that was something you REALLY didn't need to see._

Tails and Sonic stopped at a two-way fork in the ship. "Which way?" Tails asked. Sonic pointed to the left, and the two friends sped down the hallway.

At the end of the road, there was a room. Sonic stopped Tails from entering. _I'll go in there and make sure that he's there. He won't see me this time._

Tails marveled as Sonic slipped straight through the door. Blinking, he reminded himself of the grim truth that Sonic was really and truly dead.

Moments passed, and Sonic came through the door again with a disgusted look on his face. Tails cocked his head. "Is he in there?" he asked. Sonic nodded.

_Oh yeah. And he's eating the remains of my body._

Tails' face turned almost completely white, and he was about to pass out. Sonic chuckled and tried to hold him up as he fell to the ground, but the solid fox slipped right through his see-through hands.

_Hey, don't pass out on me, bud. I didn't mean for you to get THAT disturbed._ Tails cleared away the blackness that was fighting its way to his vision.

"Alright. Was he looking at Knuckles and Amy on the monitor?"

_He was. And he should be out here any second to try and grab 'em. Now's your chance._

Tails sighed and started back-tracking his way down the hallway with Sonic floating by him. "OK then…we need to lure him to the air duct. Any plans?" Sonic smiled.

_Oh, maybe _something_…c'mere, let me show you something._ Tails followed Sonic to a small cove near the fork in the hallway. _See, if we stay here and hide, we can grab Eggman unsuspectingly and drag him down the air vent. How's that?_

Tails smiled and nodded. "That's perfect! You're chock full of good ideas, Sonic." The two waited until they heard fast footsteps approaching them.

_Now!_ Sonic ordered harshly. Tails leapt out and stood face-to-face with Dr. Eggman. Before the bewildered scientist could udder anything, Tails grabbed him and flew him to the air vent.

"WHAT?! Let go of me, you two-tailed brat!" he hollered, but to no avail. Tails hovered over the air vent and dropped him down.

Sonic and Tails watched over the vent as Eggman was strapped into the chair by Amy and Knuckles. Knuckles gave Tails a thumbs-up, and the fox leapt down the air vent as well.

"Let me out of here!" Eggman screamed. "You have no right to blast me with my own inventions!!" Amy menacingly whipped out her hammer.

"I would be quiet if I were you…" she warned. The doctor quieted, clearly scared of the hedgehog's hammer. "You're going to pay for killing my Sonic!"

_He isn't as dead as you think…_ Tails thought as he pressed a few buttons on the laser control panel. Soon he felt Sonic's ghostly presence near him once more.

_Can you hack it, lil' bro?_ he asked. Tails nodded.

"Yeah, I think so. Just a little more time…"

As Eggman struggled furiously, Tails had the laser point down at the chair he was sitting in.


	5. Alive and Kickin'

Tails stood outside in the crystal clear night

Tails stood outside in the crystal clear night. The stars shone overhead, and the sky was a pale blue color.

Even from where he was standing, he could still hear everyone partying at his house. The music blared so loud that it was almost unbearable. Still, he couldn't blame all his friends. Everyone was happy that Eggman was finally defeated.

The fox, still wondering about Sonic, called out into the night.

"Sonic. Are you there, Sonic? It's me, Tails."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, with a small sparkle, the ghostly figure of Sonic the Hedgehog appeared in front of him.

Tails was almost overcome with happiness. "Sonic! You're still here! I thought that you had left me…" Sonic chuckled and tried to pat his friend on the back.

_Ah,_ _I would never leave you, Tails. We're best friends._ The hedgehog stared out into the horizon. _So, what did you need?_

Tails blinked. "Need? Um…are you happy that Eggman is dead?" Sonic nodded.

_Of course. I was really proud of you back there on the ol' Death Egg. _Tails thought that he saw the hedgehog's eyes getting misty. _I just wish that I could've been there…_

Tails beamed. "But you WERE there, Sonic. You were with me the whole time we were on the Death Egg."Sonic smiled and gave his buddy a thumbs-up.

_Yeah, I guess so. Now that I'm dead, I can be with you all the time._ Tails seemed a bit stung at the word "dead", but he shook it off. To him, Sonic wasn't dead. He was still here, talking to him.

Sonic rubbed his head and checked his watch. _Well, I guess that I better get goin'. Places to see, things to do…_ Tails gasped.

"Wait, don't go!" Before Sonic could vanish, Tails called out. "Before you leave, can you…"

Sonic cocked his head. _Can I what?_

Tails scuffed his shoes. "Well…can you give me a hug?"

Sonic paused for a moment. _Well, I'm not exactly solid, so…_ Tails' face dropped like a brick.

"Yeah, I thought so…"

_But!_

Tails stared at the ghostly hedgehog. "But what?"

Sonic winked at him. _But, I can do this…_

Suddenly, Sonic flew right into Tails' body. The fox appeared to hug himself, and he spoke with Sonic's voice. _I love ya, lil' bro! And I'm as proud as I can be of ya!_

Tails shook his head with a puzzled expression as Sonic flew out of his body. "Whoa, that's…different." Sonic chuckled and rubbed his nose.

_Yeah, well…you find things out when you're dead, you know?_ Tails nodded and noticed the moon starting to sink over the horizon.

"Listen, I probably need to get back home. Knuckles and Amy will start to worry about me." Sonic nodded understandingly.

_OK. Listen, if you ever need me, just remember…I'll always be with you. No matter where._

Sonic waved one last time before vanishing from Tails' vision. The two-tailed fox sighed happily and started on his way back home, knowing that he didn't lose a thing.

His best friend was still alive and kickin'.

THE END


End file.
